Star Wars Moves to...the Table?

As I discussed in my previous blog, I am a huge fan of Star
Wars and will be dedicating most of my blogs this year to that subject. Last
time, I discussed my ten favorite Star Wars video games, games I will cherish
forever. Today I want to talk about games again but this time we will be stepping
away from the monitors and television screens in favor of...a table. That's right;
today we are going to talk about three of the most amazing Star Wars tabletop
games to grace the altar of grub also known as the kitchen table.

I hesitate to use the phrase "board games" here
because it evokes memories of sitting around the family table playing a game of
Monopoly that just won't end. In addition, the games I plan on talking about
today don't use boards as is traditional to older tabletop games like Clue and
Monopoly. These games are deep, engaging and downright exciting. They cover
fighter pilot combat with tight twists and turns, behemoth capital ship slug
fests, and epic story campaigns that take players across the vast Star Wars
galaxy. These are my three favorite Star Wars tabletop games.

X-Wing Miniaturesby Fantasy Flight Games

Somewhere close to a year ago or more, I ran across a gem of
a Youtube series called Tabletop. Hosted by Wil Wheaton of Star Trek and Stand
by Me fame (as well as the champion of nerds everywhere), the show hosts well-known
and lesser-known celebrities from television, movies, video games, and the
internet as they sit down to play a wide variety of tabletop games. In this
particular episode, Wheaton was playing a miniature game with some other
celebrities including well-known Star Wars nerd and co-creator of Robot
Chicken, Seth Green, Green's wife and another celebrity personality I cannot
quite remember. This game was amazing and straight out of my childhood, and
adulthood, dreams.

The X-Wing Miniatures Game puts you in control of a
squadron, or squadrons, of fighters and smaller capital ships for the
Rebellion, the Empire, or space pirates/gangs. While mostly designed for two
players, I have played in some epic sized games with as many as ten people. In
this game, players secretly determine how fast and in what ways they will move
their ships across a defined space battlefield using movement templates and
engage in combat using dice. It is a game of luck and strategy that would
appeal to flight simulator and RTS fans alike.

The starter set includes an X-Wing and a couple of TIE
Fighters as well as all the dice, instructions, and other items needed to play
the game. From there, you can buy expansions with more X-Wings or TIE Fighters
or even the Millennium Falcon or a number of other ships. Each ship is painted
in fantastic detail. It is worth it to buy these just for the ships and not
just the game, they are amazing. Just beware if you decide to buy in to this
game, before you know it you will be playing in regional tournaments and
neglecting everything else, it is that addictive.

Imperial Assaultby Fantasy Flight Games

One part RPG, one part strategy, and ten parts fun. Imperial
Assault is played in a couple of ways: as a campaign with players as heroes
against a player as the evil Empire and as a player-vs-player skirmish with
players duking it out to accomplish a defined objective. Tabletop games will
recognize this as a Star Wars skinned version of the popular fantasy board game
called Descent.

In campaign mode, the game is played as a giant story that
adapts as the players succeed or fail at the various missions. Both sides gain
levels, abilities and equipment as the story progresses, even special heroes
like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker can be added to the team, so long as specific
missions are won to achieve their loyalty. At the same time, the Empire can gain
control of powerful villains like Darth Vader and IG-88. Missions progress with
story, introducing new maps/locales, all due to the ingenious modular board pieces.
As players progress through the missions they gain experience points and money
for equipment to grant them special combat and defensive abilities, making each
new mission all the more challenging for the players.

Skirmish mode pits player-designed squads against player
designed squads with objective based or death match missions. Squads can be
made of heroes or soldiers based on a point system. Each side fills out their
army to the specified point level and the match begins.

My friends and I ran the story campaign from beginning to
end, playing on the weekends. It took us well over a month to finish and with
all the optional missions and potential story branches we only saw a small
portion of what the game has to offer. While the figures in the set do not come
pre-painted, the large price tag is worth the enjoyment you get from it.
Besides, if you are like me, you will also find a lot of joy in painting the
figures to your liking. So grab some friends and buckle up for an epic campaign
ride.

Armada by Fantasy Flight Games

By now, you have probably noticed a trend with these games.
Every last one has been made by Fantasy Flight Games. They make some amazing
games and I cannot recommend their titles enough and this next one is no
exception.

Armada is a space combat game similar to X-Wing but taken
one depth level higher. Rather than focusing on individual fighter combat,
Armada focuses itself on the larger capital ships and keeps fighter combat at a
squadron level, allowing the player to use the fighters to assault the capital
ships directly or act as screens for your own capital ships. The game further
builds on X-Wing by introducing mechanics to more accurately depict space
combat with large ships such as inertia, slow chains of command differing
shield strength, and multiple hull combat.

I have o lynch had the game for a few weeks now as it just
barely came out in stores but every game has been insanely fun. The game comes
with three pre-painted capital ships (two rebel and one Imperial Star
Destroyer), fighter squadrons for each side, and upgrade cards and tokens to
play. More expansions are coming later this month to introduce more capital
ships and fighter types as well as new upgrade cards.

This is another game I cannot speak highly enough about. The
retail price stage is about $100, but I have seen it for much less on
Amazon. It even at the higher price point,
I think this is one game well worth the money if you have it.

There are a lot more great Star Wars tabletop games out
there, but these are my favorites. Tabletop games have evolved over the years
and there are a ton of great ones out there, especially for gamers. If you want
some recommendations or have some to give, let us know in the comments. Also,
tell me what your favorite Star Wars tabletop games are, I always love trying
new ones.

Until next time, thanks for reading, I will return with more
Star Wars soon.